The Age of Dualization: The Changing Face of Inequality in Deindustrializing Societies
Abstract
Poverty, increased inequality, and social exclusion are back on the political agenda, not only as a consequence of the Great Recession of 2008, but also because of a seemingly structural trend towards increased inequality in advanced industrial societies that has persisted since the 1970s. Policies in labor markets, social policy, and political representation are strongly linked in the creation, widening, and deepening of insider-outsider divides--a process known as dualization. While it is certainly not the only driver of increasing inequality, its development across multiple domains makes dualization one of the most important current trends affecting developed societies. The comparative perspective of this book provides insights into why Nordic countries witness lower levels of insider-outsider divides, whereas in continental, liberal and southern welfare states, they are more likely to constitute a core characteristic of the political economy. Most importantly, the comparisons presented in this book point to the crucial importance of politics and political choice in driving and shaping the social outcomes of deindustrialization. While increased structural labor market divides can be found across all countries, governments have a strong responsibility in shaping the distributive consequences of these labor market changes. Insider-outsider divides are ultimately the result of political choice. A landmark publication, this volume is geared for faculty and graduate students of economics, political science, social policy, and sociology, as well as policymakers concerned with increasing inequality in a period of deep economic and social crisis. (Résumé éditeur)
... Scholars in Comparative Political Economy (CPE) have described the dual trajectories between groups in terms of labour market and welfare protection across advanced economies (Emmenegger et al., 2012;Palier & Thelen, 2010;Schwander & Häusermann, 2013). Processes of institutional dualisation created a rift between people who enjoy decent levels of employment and social rights (the 'insiders') and a growing number of people with insufficient wage, job and welfare security (the 'outsiders'). ...
... Notably, when it comes to explaining the causes of dualisation, a lot of responsibility is attributed to trade unions. Against a backdrop of decreasing membership and power resources, unions are expected to preserve a narrow group of privileged workers and disregard the rest (Beramendi et al., 2015;Clegg, 2009;Emmenegger et al., 2012;Häusermann, 2010bHäusermann, , 2010aPalier & Thelen, 2010;Rueda, 2007). ...
... It is undeniable that, starting from the 1980s, trade unions in Western countries have consented to dualisation. Several studies empirically validated this claim (Clegg, 2009;Emmenegger et al., 2012;Häusermann, 2010bHäusermann, , 2010aPalier & Thelen, 2010). Dualisation processes follow a specific temporal sequence. ...
Since the 1980s, trade unions have increasingly adopted conservative stances, defending traditional workers and their entitlements. The literature on dualisation shows how unions have contributed to creating a divide between entrenched ‘insiders’ in core industries and an expanding periphery of ‘outsiders’, concerning both employment and welfare protections. In this thesis, I challenge the notion of dualisation as a stable institutional equilibrium and reject the characterization of unions as rent-seekers or defenders of the status quo. I show that there is significant variation in how labour markets and welfare states have been regulated over the past two decades, partly due to the evolving preferences and roles of unions in the politics of socio-economic reform. The central point of the thesis is that, although unions consented to dualisation in the 1990s, they soon became disillusioned with it. Various factors, including pressures from the labour market periphery and dwindling organisational resources, have prompted these actors to move away from narrow strategies and work towards bridging divides in the workforce. At the same time, strategies to reverse dualisation differ considerably across contexts. Some unions focus on filling gaps in previously segmented welfare systems (thus attempting to reverse welfare dualisation), while others prioritise re-regulating labour markets at the periphery (aiming to reverse labour market dualisation). By combining a time-series cross-sectional analysis of 20 OECD countries with in-depth case studies of Italy and the Netherlands, the thesis shows that trade unions are now turning (back) to solidarity, but their strategies vary according to the institutional contexts in which they operate.
... For instance, access to unemployment benefits and how generous they are depends on prior earnings. People who do not qualify for unemployment benefits must rely on the second tier of the welfare state, typically means-tested social assistance, which often results in significantly less generous support (Emmenegger, Hausermann, Palier & Seeleib-Kaiser, 2012). ...
... The concept of dualisation has also been used to characterise the step preceding financial support: the labour market. During the Fordist era, after WWII and up until the 1970s oil crises, full-time employment was a political priority in many European states (Emmenegger et al., 2012). But with deregulated labour markets there has been a gradual increase in dependence on part-time work among large groups of workers (cf. ...
... Instead, the layering of national insurance schemes "on top" of poor relief, resulted in a dual welfare state (cf. Emmenegger et al., 2012;Marklund & Svallfors, 1987) as access to the "universal coverage" was made conditional upon previous employment. ...
Labour market policies has two aims: cushioning the economic hardship caused by unemployment and increasing employment rates. In many welfare states, responsibilities for such policies are divided between different political-administrative levels. This dissertation aims to enhance the understanding of labour market policies and especially the involvement of sub-national governmental actors, by analysing the role of municipalities in the Swedish context. The dissertation also investigates the involvement of social work and social workers within labour market policies. A theoretical framework consisting of four pillars, structure, content, space, and time, is used to analyse labour market policies. The analysis combines a historical review with empirical data. The findings show that the involvement of municipalities, in active labour market policies, has taken place against the background of three processes: the multi-level governance of financial support, the shifting role of active labour market policies, and the dialectic relationship between financial support and active labour market policies. The divided responsibility for financial support generates incentives for municipal measures that qualify social assistance recipients for nationally funded social insurances. The fear of work disincentives has also been a driving force in the development of municipal activation. The reliance on municipalities to design and deliver active labour market policies opens for greater crossmunicipal differences. An ongoing reform of the Public Employment Service, the national agency that provides active labour market policies, that decreases the number of local offices and increases the reliance on private service providers, is likely to change the role of municipalities within active labour market policies. Many scholars criticise the involvement of social workers, within labour market policies, given the use of conditionality through activation. This criticism calls for further empirical investigation, not least in terms of how practicing social workers position their work.
... Le teorie della dualizzazione del mercato del lavoro rappresentano un approccio teorico utilizzato con successo nella ricerca comparativa al fine di analizzare le disuguaglianze che caratterizzano l'occupazione in Europa. In queste analisi, i paesi del Sud Europa sono tradizionalmente considerati come un cluster più o meno omogeneo il cui mercato del lavoro si caratterizza per una separazione tra due segmenti: il primo (insiders), protetto dai rischi del turnover occupazionali e integrato ai sistemi di protezione sociale, e l'altro (outsiders) esposto a diversi rischi sociali derivanti da un regime contrattuale non-standard (Emmenegger et al., 2012). ...
... La prospettiva teorica che si concentra sull'analisi di questi cambiamenti è detta dualizzazione e, in essa, vengono contrapposti insiders e outsiders sulla base delle differenze nel livello di protezione sociale e dei modelli di rappresentanza (Rueda, 2005;Emmenegger et al., 2012). Tra i principali teorici della dualizzazione, Rueda (2005) sostiene che non in tutti i paesi in Europa la deregolamentazione dei contratti ha avuto come esito la dualizzazione nel mercato del lavoro. ...
... Tuttavia, dal nostro punto di vista, la cornice analitica risulta ancora inefficace nel descrivere l'eterogeneità esistente all'interno dei gruppi. A nostro avviso, questo avviene perché sia gli studi comparativi che supportano la tesi dicotomica (Rueda, 2005;Emmenegger et al., 2012;Rueda et al., 2015), sia la tesi tri-categoriale insiders-midsiders-outsiders (Jessoula et al., 2010) si sono concentrati soprattutto sulla dimensione istituzionale quale dimensione unica che delimita e definisce le categorie all'interno del mercato del lavoro. ...
La recente crisi finanziaria del 2008-2014 e la prossima crisi che si attende come conseguenza della pandemia da Covid19 hanno messo in luce la necessità di superare le tradizionali teorie sulla segmentazione del lavoro. In questo articolo presentiamo il modello teorico di Dualizzazione su Scala Multicategoriale (DSM). Invece di concepire il fenomeno della dualizzazione come una combinazione binaria di insiders/outsiders, proponiamo un modello che esplora differenti dimensioni di marginalizzazione lungo un continuum di posizioni lavorative. Grazie ad un'analisi comparata su indicatori Eurostat e OECD, studiamo la dualizzazione in quattro paesi del Sud Europa (Spagna, Italia, Portogallo, Grecia). Il caso italiano è poi approfondito con un'analisi intersezionale, con lo scopo di mostrare la capacità euristica del modello DSM proposto per lo studio del lavoro non-standard nel modello sudeuropeo.
... The term dualization refers to countries that applied deregulation in peripheral corners of the labor markets, with the effect of increasing the precariousness of only certain categories of workers. The protection given to insiders implied a hyper-guaranteeism for male adults who more frequently worked in primary sectors as fulltime dependent employees, consequently marginalizing women (part-time workers) as outsiders (Emmenegger et al. 2012). Scholars from this school (Rueda 2005;Rueda, Wibbels, and Altamirano 2015;Nicolaisen, Kavli, and Jensen 2019) explicitly highlight voluntary/involuntary part-time work as the main threshold that differentiates insiders from outsiders. ...
... In France, Italy, and Spain, the consequences of involuntary parttime work on household economic security depend on the institutional configuration of the country, as argued by the dualization thesis (Emmenegger et al. 2012). Unlike in the UK, Austria, and Switzerland, part-time work in those countries is not generally a voluntary option, but an involuntary condition determined by part-time work being used increasingly as a flexibilization strategy by firms (Kjeldstad and Nymoen 2012;Maestripieri and León 2019;Insarauto 2021). ...
... With this background, the present study focuses on the situation in Germany, which has a highly regulated labor market and provides a generous social security net for the core work force, but is also characterized by a high gender-based dualization of employment (Emmenegger et al. 2012). We address two research questions related to gender inequality in employment during the pandemic recession. ...
... Labor market inequality intensified after the labor market reforms of the early 2000s, which included the flexibilization of the low-wage sector through incentives for employers and employees to generate and take up lowwage employment (Bosch and Weinkopf 2008;Eichhorst and Marx 2011). These changes implied an increased dualization of the labor force, including a polarization between full-time and part-time employees with employment contracts based on the regulations of the "mini-job" scheme in terms of wages and job security (Brülle et al. 2019;Emmenegger et al. 2012). This coincides with both a pronounced vertical and a horizontal segregation of the labor market in Germany. ...
The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a number of partly improvised, partly only temporary, but in every respect diverse and often unprecedented social policy measures in Europe. The edited volume provides an encompassing and longer-term analysis of social policy responses during the COVID-19 crisis in order to ask in which direction the European welfare states on the one hand, and EU social policy on the other hand, are developing as a result of the pandemic with respect to polity, politics, and policy instruments. The book focuses on the tension between continuity and change from different interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Contributions range from single case studies to comparative policy analyses. The chapters in this book study (1) welfare state change during the pandemic in order to contribute to welfare state and regime theory; (2) policy responses in specific social policy domains, their socio-structural effects for particular social groups; and their potential future effects on the social security systems in different countries; and (3) social policymaking as a multilevel process, analyzing different crises responses and discussing the implications for European integration and EU social policy. Overall, the different social policy areas, European countries, and social groups studied in this volume show not only that the welfare state is here to stay, but also that social policy may potentially develop and expand its competences at the European level.
... Scholars have argued that labour markets are segmented into primary and secondary markets, with insiders working in well-protected and well-paid jobs in the primary segment and outsiders working in more precarious, poorly paid jobs in the secondary segment (eg Dickens and Lang, 1993). More recently, this argument has been revisited because the prevalence of precarious employment continues to grow (Emmenegger et al, 2012b;Palier and Thelen, 2010;Prosser, 2016). Dualisation scholars contend that labour market outsiders are particularly affected by processes of globalisation, post-industrialisation and labour market liberalisation. ...
... While dualisation is defined by a differentiation in rights and entitlements or access to services between part-time and full-time workers (Emmenegger et al, 2012a), such differentiation may also take place between part-time workers. As a result, certain workers are more adversely affected by labour market and welfare state changes than others (Palier and Thelen, 2010;Emmenegger et al, 2012b). Dualisation can also lead to a narrowing of insider groups and a widening of outsider groups, whereby some people who were previously considered insiders become outsiders. ...
... Scholars have argued that labour markets are segmented into primary and secondary markets, with insiders working in well-protected and well-paid jobs in the primary segment and outsiders working in more precarious, poorly paid jobs in the secondary segment (eg Dickens and Lang, 1993). More recently, this argument has been revisited because the prevalence of precarious employment continues to grow (Emmenegger et al, 2012b;Palier and Thelen, 2010;Prosser, 2016). Dualisation scholars contend that labour market outsiders are particularly affected by processes of globalisation, post-industrialisation and labour market liberalisation. ...
... While dualisation is defined by a differentiation in rights and entitlements or access to services between part-time and full-time workers (Emmenegger et al, 2012a), such differentiation may also take place between part-time workers. As a result, certain workers are more adversely affected by labour market and welfare state changes than others (Palier and Thelen, 2010;Emmenegger et al, 2012b). Dualisation can also lead to a narrowing of insider groups and a widening of outsider groups, whereby some people who were previously considered insiders become outsiders. ...
... According to the theory of labor market dualization, the persistence of a precarious employment status results from a labor market segmentation that consists of a primary segment associated with normal forms of employment and a secondary segment associated with precarious employment where cross-segment mobility opportunities are low. The segmentation of labor markets was mainly driven by labor market institutions that-in cooperation with trade unions-consolidated a dual labor market by protecting nonprecarious employees from insecurities and displacing precarious employees (Emmenegger 2012;Rueda 2014). This process of dualization was starker in more corporatist countries, such as Germany, that had stronger unions and stricter labor market regulations (Brady and Biegert 2017;Häusermann 2012;Palier and Thelen 2010). ...
... Part of the debate on the transformation of modern labor markets focuses on the emergence of precarious employment as a new form of employment (Emmenegger 2012). The rationale of dual labor market theory is that labor markets are divided into primary and secondary sectors with few chances to move between them. ...
This study analyzes the longitudinal association between precarious employment and physical and mental health in a dualized labor market by disaggregating between-employee and within-employee effects and considering mobility in precariousness of employment. Analyses were based on the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2002 to 2018 considering all employees ages 18 to 67 years (n = 38,551). Precariousness of employment was measured as an additive index considering working poverty, nonstandard working time arrangements, perceived job insecurity, and low social rights. Health outcomes were mental and physical health. Random effects models were used and controlled for sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables. Results indicated that the association between precariousness of employment and mental and physical health is mainly based on between-employee differences and that prolonged precariousness of employment or upward or downward mobility are associated with poor health. We found evidence of polarization in health by precariousness of employment within a dualized labor market.
... A result that is particularly striking is the lack of significant differences in preferences between the employed-unemployed, and the high vs. low risk individuals, 5 especially in a highly dualised context like Spain, where welfare institutions exacerbate the inequalities derived from the labour market segmentation (Hauserman & Schwander 2012, in Emmenegger et al., 2012. However, these findings resonate with previous work on dualisation, which shows that in fact, the lack of preference gaps across these two groups (Emmenegger, 2009) may be explained by three potential mechanisms. ...
Universal basic income (UBI) is becoming a prominent alternative to reform the welfare state, yet public support for this policy remains a puzzle. Existing scholarship empirically shows that certain groups like the low-income and left-wing show support, but it remains unclear if this translates to a preference for UBI over alternatives. This paper argues against this assumption: UBI challenges welfare norms and deservingness principles, suggesting people would typically prefer means-tested options. Drawing on a conjoint experiment, this paper empirically shows supportive evidence of the idea that support for a UBI does not translate into an inherent preference for UBI. These findings have widespread implications for both the UBI literature and the politics of welfare reform.
... panoramicamente Castel, 2008). Em geral, hoje se fala sobre um dualismo do mercado de trabalho e entende-se com isso a separação das relações de trabalho em um setor protegido, altamente qualificado, e um setor de trabalho precário, mal remunerado e não qualificado nas esferas da produção e dos serviços (Emmenegger et al., 2012). Por outro lado, com a emergente digitalização do trabalho desponta uma grande onda de demissões, pois com o crescimento de processos eletrônicos de gestão uma variedade de atividades de controle, liderança e registro devem se tornar supérfluas; ainda não se sabe em que medida esta queda nos postos de trabalho será compensada pela criação de novos ramos da indústria na área da eletrônica, mas agora já deve estar claro que as transformações iminentes levarão a um massivo aumento do desemprego. ...
Resumo Neste artigo apresentamos nossa tradução e introdução crítica ao texto “Democracia e divisão do trabalho social: mais um capítulo negligenciado da filosofia política” em que Axel Honneth apresenta a tese de que a divisão do trabalho social possui íntima relação com a distribuição de chances de participação política e, afinal, com a qualidade da democracia em sociedades modernas. Partindo da constatação de que a teoria política contemporânea raramente se dedicou ao estudo de questões relacionadas ao mundo trabalho dos sujeitos políticos, o autor propõe uma atualização sistemática da concepção de divisão do trabalho social, por meio da qual não apenas as atividades laborais sejam vistas como passíveis de reformulação, mas também a concepção mesma daquilo que é tradicionalmente considerado como trabalho social.
... The polarisation or segmentation of jobs into 'good jobs' and 'bad jobs' has been examined and explained widely in the social sciences [3]. Good jobs are typically full-time, long-term, offer opportunities for promotion, enable the development of skills, create possibilities for personal fulfilment, provide salaries that are typically significantly above any national minimum wage, and include additional benefits such as contributions to pensions. ...
... Other dualizing practices were explicitly invoked by the state (cf. Emmenegger et al., 2012). For example, in many of the public bodies in which unionized workers did retain their rights, the state led the way in casualizing new employment, redefining formerly secure jobs and occupations (including some professionals in the social services) as temporary positions or utilizing market-exploiting practices like temp agencies and outsourcing (Mundlak, 2017). ...
Few countries receive as much attention as Israel and are at the same time as misunderstood. The Oxford Handbook of Israeli Politics and Society brings together leading Israeli and international figures to offer the most wide-ranging treatment available of an intriguing country. It serves as a comprehensive reference for the growing field of Israel studies and is also a significant resource for students and scholars of comparative politics, recognizing that in many ways Israel is not unique, but rather a test case of democracy in deeply divided societies and states engaged in intense conflict. The handbook presents an overview of the historical development of Israeli democracy through chapters examining the country’s history, contemporary society, political institutions, international relations, and most pressing political issues. It outlines the most relevant developments over time while not shying away from the strife both in and around Israel. It presents opposed narratives in full force, enabling readers to make their own judgments.
... Young people who are in transition from school to the labour market find themselves in a sensitive life-time period. They are portrayed in literature as an outsider group within the increasingly segmented labour markets (Doeringer & Piore, 1971;Emmenegger et al., 2012;Hvinden et al., 2019;Piore, 1972) or a 'new social risk group' which is disproportionally exposed to 'new social risks' 4 (Bonoli, 2005;Chevalier, 2015). At the same time, they are portrayed as a group that receives relatively little policy support and has fewer social rights. ...
... Labour market deregulation was initiated in 1997 (Riforma Treu, Law No. 196/1997) with additional changes in 2003(Riforma Biagi, Law No. 30/2003 when regulations for temporary employment were radically reduced, yielding significant increases in temporary and perpetuated temporary employment without substantially affecting unemployment levels, which have remained relatively high, particularly among labour market entrants. Since then, there has been a marked proliferation of non-permanent contracts, whose nature has become increasingly unstable (Barbieri & Scherer, 2009;Hipp et al., 2015). 1 These normative changes in the nation's employment fostered a process of labour market dualisation (Barbieri & Cutuli, 2016;Emmenegger et al., 2012), which establishes boundaries between well-sheltered 'insider' and un-protected 'outsider' workers employed in the secondary labour market sector, implying the rising risk of remaining entrapped in insecure and underpaid jobs (Blanchard & Landier, 2002). As in other contexts, labour market deregulation in Italy mainly occurred 'at the margins'-leaving the regulation of core workers rather untouched (Barbieri, 2009;Bentolila et al., 2021;Rubery, 2015). ...
Family formation is fostered by circumstances of plannability and economic and social stability. Conversely, as documented in previous literature, employment instability can hamper fertility decisions. Based on data from the Italian Labour Force Survey, this paper examines the association between employment-related instability and the likelihood of having a first or additional child from 2000 to 2020 in Italy, covering a period characterised by increasing labour market deregulation. Our results show that individual employment instability, such as temporary employment or unemployment, negatively influences the likelihood of having a first and second child, while the progression to higher parities is less affected by employment situations. Building upon previous research, we demonstrate how the negative association between fertility and employment instability has intensified over recent decades, especially for women. The large sample size also allowed for the examination of specific differences by educational levels and both partners’ employment situation. In contrast to traditional views about gender roles, the employment situation of one’s partner seems to matter less for women than for men.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10680-023-09680-5.
... In the last two to three decades, the two countries have gone through what Rueda (2015: 109) calls the protectionist processes of industrialisation, where labour market regulations to protect insiders have contributed to reduced labour productivity and high income inequality. In many countries, the deregulation and flexibilisation of employment has led to an across-the-board increase of atypical forms of employment, with the subsequent deepening of insider-outsider labour market dynamics (Emmenegger et al, 2012). The origins and reasons for this labour market dualisation are beyond the aim of this chapter. ...
... Concerned with issues of slowing productivity and with the risk of creating 'welfare profiteers', stratifying social policies aim to set financial and non-financial incentives to attract and retain those workers considered most productive in the labour market. They typically emphasise individual responsibility in job uptake, de facto institutionalisation of a dual regime that strengthens the working conditions of labour market 'insiders' while exerting pressure to activate 'outsiders', even at the cost of curtailment of social rights (Emmenegger et al., 2012). This approach was observed notably in the workfare policies enacted under the Blair and Schröder governments in the early 2000s. ...
When does the EU employment growth agenda also serve social progress? Scholars concerned with the equality/efficiency trade-off generally look at the EU as an agenda-setter. Little attention has yet been paid to its role as direct provider of social rights. Building on a data set of 71 EU measures and 317 judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU, this article evaluates the extent to which EU employment policies helped to advance social citizenship by assessing the scope and distribution of individual entitlements over time (2009–2022). Our findings show that, after almost two decades of silence, the EU not only expanded the scope of its influence over individual social rights but also took an inclusive turn, driven by more ‘universalising’ and ‘capacitating’ initiatives. Looking ahead, better monitoring of the distributive profile of EU initiatives indirectly affecting rights production (such as SURE or the Recovery and Resilience Facility) would help to ensure that this shift increasingly benefits those needing it the most.
... In the last two to three decades, the two countries have gone through what Rueda (2015: 109) calls the protectionist processes of industrialisation, where labour market regulations to protect insiders have contributed to reduced labour productivity and high income inequality. In many countries, the deregulation and flexibilisation of employment has led to an across-the-board increase of atypical forms of employment, with the subsequent deepening of insider-outsider labour market dynamics (Emmenegger et al, 2012). The origins and reasons for this labour market dualisation are beyond the aim of this chapter. ...
... Now followed a political rollback under the governments of Reagan in the United States, Thatcher in the United Kingdom and Kohl in Germany. The deregulation of labor markets and rising unemployment shifted the balance of power in companies and weakened the position of labor representatives (Emmenegger et al., 2012;Thelen, 2001). ...
Based on an understanding of the category of teamwork as a socio-historical construct, this chapter reconstructs four phases of its development and the driving forces behind it. The first phase was the emergence of the group-work concept in the Human Relations school as a response to the Taylorist revolution and its Scientific Management at the beginning of the twentieth century. The second phase was the institutionalization of group-work research as an important field of organizational psychology and labor sociology, with the discussion culminating in the potential of group work in the Humanization of Work programs of the 1960s and 1970s. The third phase was characterized by a changing political and economic environment in the 1980s. In this context, lean-production concepts gained in importance. They brought not only a linguistic shift from group work to teamwork but also a recombination of Taylorism and teamwork concepts. In the course of the 1990s and 2000s, the debates increasingly shifted from manufacturing sectors to the software industry and white-collar work in general. Influenced by lean concepts, the software industry became the birthplace of agile teamwork concepts. The chapter ends with a reflection on the relationship between “real-world” changes and evolution of the category of teamwork.
... How can solidarity between "have" and "have not" working groups be promoted? 106 Overall, our review shows a persisting "haves" and a "haves not" divide, in line with "insider-outsider" divides described by Emmenegger et al. 107 and the polarized job environment described by Kalleberg. 1 We have briefly described how workers in traditional jobs have been provided with fairly good social protection for work and health, which has been especially apparent during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We focused on the other end, where low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers made small and often temporary gains during the pandemic in some jurisdictions. ...
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered. Finally, we discuss promising changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that protect the health of low-wage and self-employed workers. Overall, we describe an ongoing “haves” and a “have not” divide, with on the one extreme, traditional job arrangements with good work-and-health social protections and, on the other extreme, low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers who are mostly left out of schemes. However, during the pandemic small and often temporary gains occurred and are discussed.
... However, the centrality of the social investment component of human capital creation from an early age differed. In Chile, the objective of fostering cognitive and socioemotional skills in the early years was key, and there was a unified framework setting the standards to reach 1. See Emmenegger et al. (2012) for an analysis of the distinctive nature of dualization and its consequences in Europe. ...
In this chapter, the authors analyze how the dualization of the labor market and the segmentation of the welfare state shape the role that trade unions play in contemporary social investment reforms in Latin America. They argue that in contexts of low dualization, social policy reforms are more likely to have direct consequences for the labor conditions of the formal workforce because welfare provision is less segmented. When organized labor’s interests are affected, unions have more incentives to get involved in shaping social policies. In contrast, in highly dualized labor markets, social policy expansion is less likely to be directly linked to formal workers’ labor conditions. In these contexts, it is unlikely that organized labor will act as an important driver (or opponent) of policies aimed at extending benefits to labor market outsiders. The authors focus on two important reforms which expanded early childhood education and care public services to previously excluded segments of the population: Chile Crece Contigo in Chile (2006) and the Estancias Infantiles para Madres Trabajadoras program in Mexico (2007). They show that neither in Chile nor in Mexico was organized labor a relevant actor in the agenda-setting stage. However, in contrast to unions in Mexico, which did not attempt to shape the policy at any stage of the process, unions in Chile have become highly involved in the post-reform period.
... The most successful part of this strategy, however, has been to increase employment rates (Dellmuth, 2021;de la Porte and Jacobsson, 2012). But despite the emphasis on highquality jobs (Piasna et al., 2019), a substantial part of the increase in employment rates has been through the growth of precarious jobs in 'dualised' labour markets, in which 'outsiders' have fewer possibilities for upskilling or upward job mobility, and less social protection (Emmenegger et al., 2012). And even though social investments have been increasing across the EU since Lisbonespecially early childhood education and care, education and active labour market policiesthey do not tackle poverty in themselves. ...
The link to each of our articles is included. This collection of articles includes our reflections on social Europe, based on insights we have gained into the political dynamics, as well as policy outputs and outcomes across the EU. We offer different perspectives on developments of social Europe, current challenges, and possible future directions. We would like to thank Šćepanović for useful comments on our papers and for a smooth editorial process. The articles appear in the same order as in the journal, and we hope that you find them thought-provoking.
... With the rise of labor market flexibility, the labor market is now divided into a new insider-outsider dichotomy (Emmenegger 2012). The dualist view assumes there is no overlap between insiders and outsiders: a person either has both employment and income security, or neither. ...
Objective
Many welfare states in young democracies feature low effective social insurance coverage, especially in old‐age pension. What explains the ineffective coverage? This article shows individual income instability is a microlevel factor contributing to low effective coverage.
Method
The article used 15 waves of the Korean Labor Income Panel Study and constructed a fine‐grained individual‐level income instability measure, which was used to predict individual participation in state‐run public pension using (multinomial) logistic models with industry, occupation, and cohort fixed effects.
Result
The article shows that income instability is negatively associated with public pension participation, and the negative relationship becomes larger as income level increases. Moreover, income instability inhibits only participation in state‐led risk pooling, but not in private self‐insuring.
Conclusion
The article sheds light on disentangling an individual‐level factor buttressing young welfare states and bears implications for the future contour of welfare states in young democracies.
... Mini-jobs, however, have existed in the form of marginal part-time employment long before the "age of dualisation" (Emmenegger et al., 2012). They are rooted in a conservative welfare state with a traditional division of labour within couple household. ...
This review paper critically examines a range of analytical frameworks used to analyse the German mini-job scheme in comparative research on work and welfare. The approaches examined include labour market dualisation in comparative political economy research and welfare-to-work policies in comparative social policy research. The paper claims that using stylized facts instead of a thorough understanding of the broader context of national employment and social systems leads to misinterpretations in terms of policy learning. By describing the institutional context and main drivers of the evolution of mini-jobs over time, based on variety of data sources, statistics and empirical studies, the paper addresses the critical role of this specific employment scheme for gender equality, largely ignored in the comparative literature.
The labor market is one of the economy changing components, it is quite similar to the market for goods and services, but instead of the demand and supply of goods, there is a demand and supply of labor, knowledge, skills and abilities that are supplied by the employee. The EU, in turn, is known for its openness to immigrants and the employment of third-country nationals. This creates new opportunities and challenges for workers and employers. Labor market research helps to understand the impact of immigration on labor markets. Covid-19 has actually become that springboard on the way to changes in the economies and labor markets of countries around the world. Transformations and changes that were just emerging until 2020 (this may safely include digitalization, automation, the spread of remote employment, etc.) will further intensify under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war and lead to a significant redistribution of workers between sectors. In general, labor market research in the EU and Ukraine helps countries to understand and respond to various challenges and opportunities related to employment, labor migration, economic development and social policy. The purpose of our work is to identify trends and problems that exist at the present stage of development of the labor market, as well as to forecast the further development of the labor market at the level of the European Union and Ukraine
Over the past decades, the level of regulation of fixed-term contracts has been in flux. Many reforms deregulating these contracts were followed by a regulatory countertrend, a puzzling finding considering influential theoretical expectations like the ones developed by the dualization and liberalization literatures. This paper draws on the comparative employment relations and comparative political economy literatures to identify the drivers of pro-outsider reforms. Furthermore, it develops an innovative argument claiming that governments may rely on support from a ‘domestic coalition’ including workers in permanent contracts, or they can leverage the European link to support their intention of conducting a pro-outsider reform. Each of these paths relies on the assemblage of distinct pro-reform coalitions of policy actors. To test our argument, the paper uses fsQCA. We compare 38 reforms enacted in 16 European countries between 1985–2019. After the fsQCA analysis, we conduct a qualitative discussion of the different paths.
One of the most important developments in the Austrian labour market in recent years has been employment-related migration from the enlarged EU. This chapter examines the labour market consequences of this mobility. It is shown that the main dynamic for an extraordinary increase in migration was an open labour market in conjunction with a demand for labour, huge income differences, and geography. EU migrants are represented in different occupational positions in the Austrian labour market. While migrants from the old EU are overrepresented in highly qualified positions, migrants from the new EU are overrepresented in low-skilled positions. This can be partly explained by different qualifications and language skills, but also by the segmentation of the labour market. While traditionally a division between “insiders” and “outsiders” in Austria was less pronounced than elsewhere, there is some evidence that a trend towards segmentation and precarization has become entrenched in the context of recent migration. This development was somewhat mitigated by the re-regulation of labour standards , which were negotiated by the Austrian social partners.
Social equity is a critical component of social justice and is measured in multiple ways. Conventionally, researchers use literacy levels, workforce participation, political participation and representation, corporate presence, and demographic parity as indicators of social and economic equity. We add law enforcement outcomes to this literature by examining the demographic profiles of convicts in prisons in India for each state and compare it with that of the population of the respective state. To test whether entrenched social inequities have permeated into the law enforcement system, we use three indicators of social identity–religion, caste, and domicile–to create a social equity index (SEI). This is a composite index combining caste, religion and domicile similar in method to the Human Development Index which combines income, education and health. Our indicators are not considered in other popular development indices and is a conceptual innovation. Our paper innovates by combining prison data and census data at the state level over the two latest census rounds (2001 and 2011). We use a spatial panel analysis as well as a distributional dynamics approach to test for bias and transitions over time at the state level. We find that entrenched social hierarchies are mirrored in conviction outcomes and that social identities influence law enforcement. In contrast to earlier studies, we find that states that are conventionally considered to perform poorly in terms of economic and human development have done better in terms of social equity than economically advanced states.
In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformations and welfare policies in the context of the ecological crisis, the authors review the state of the debate, focusing on three emerging concepts: climate justice, just transition and sustainable welfare. They provide an analysis of the academic and non-academic contexts in which these concepts have emerged and the kinds of programmatic questions that they raise for the study of labour transformations, social movements and welfare policies. After discussing how the collected contributions operationalise the three concepts in different empirical and research contexts, the article outlines some critical gaps that warrant being addressed or explored further and propose a few methodological and analytical pointers that are useful for the continuation of the debate and, thus, the growth of a field of analysis that is destined to occupy a major space in the sociology of labour.
In the Fordist era, trade unions promoted welfare state expansion and coverage against risks for the broader workforce. With the shift to the post-industrial economy, however, new economic groups have been left without representation. This is particularly evident for women: despite a rapid increase in female employment since the 1980s, unions’ membership base remains anchored in the male, old and industrial working class. Without the crucial pressure of labour, welfare systems have failed to enhance the reconciliation of work and family life. Under which conditions do unions support the expansion of work-family policies? Marshalling evidence from 20 OECD countries in the 1980–2010 period, this paper investigates the role of political actors in family policy reform. Findings suggest that unions promote the expansion of work-family packages when they are gender-inclusive and have institutional access to policy-making.
Double poverty refers to the lack of both time and income. This study analyses precarious workers’ double poverty, focusing on the case of South Korea, where the characteristics of its labour market perpetuate the risk of double poverty. This study set less than two-thirds of the median free time and less than two-thirds of the median income as poverty lines. Using Korean Labour & Income Panel Study data, this article identifies the double poor, experiencing both time and income poverty in the Korean labour market. It then examines the effects of occupational class, employment type, company size, social wage, trade union membership, and gender on double poverty. It is found that double poverty impacts women workers, low-skilled service workers, and non-regular workers. This study contributes to the discussion of precarious work by analysing the double poverty of time and income of precarious workers. Time poverty limits workers’ capacity to escape income poverty as they are unable to work longer and invest in household production or human capital. Consequently, the workers’ lack of time deepens their precarity.
This study assesses seasonal labour migration to Germany, providing an analysis of the structural role which seasonal work plays in Germany’s political economy, as well as using the publicly available data to analyse the magnitude and trends in this area.
We find that seasonal migrant workers are essential to the functioning of certain key sectors in Germany, particularly in agriculture. Despite this reliance, these workers are often in a form of low-paid, precarious employment which makes them vulnerable to abuse from employers. The ‘dependent’ employment relationship between these workers and their employers is facilitated by a legal framework which allows workers to be employed without social insurance coverage and with limited access to health benefits. The Covid-19 pandemic brought these issues to the fore, as the living and working arrangements often meant these workers were at high risk of infection and illness. Despite the media attention to this issue, there has been little ensuing substantive policy change.
The findings from our data analysis on seasonal work are fourfold: (1) since the ending of the Transitional Agreements for labour migration from new EU members in the early 2010s, there has been a slight decrease in seasonal labour migrants coming to Germany from within the EU; (2) over the period we analyse, Romania has overtaken Poland in all metrics to become the primary sending country for seasonal migrants; (3) there are a growing number of workers from the main CEE sender countries who are in employment with social insurance, but which still show strong trends of seasonality in their employment patterns; (4) migrants from third countries have begun to increase in their numbers, however, it is not clear whether this will be enough to make up for decreasing intra-EU migrants.
Migrants play a significant role in European labor markets and are used as sources of "cheap labor"; often being disproportionately represented in low-wage, poor conditions, or otherwise precarious positions. Past research has suggested that the process of migrants being filtered into these low-end occupations is linked to institutional factors in receiving countries such as immigration policy, the welfare state and employment regulation. This paper calculates the extent of migrant marginalization in 17 European countries and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and regression modeling to understand how institutional factors operate and interact, leading to migrant marginalization. The QCA showed that when a country with a prominent low skills sector and restrictive immigration policy is combined with either strong employment protection legislation or a developed welfare state, migrants will be more strongly marginalized on the labor market. The results of the statistical analysis largely aligned with the idea that restrictive immigrant policy by itself and in combination with other factors can increase marginalization.
Migrants play a significant role in European labor markets and are used as sources of “cheap labor”; often being disproportionately represented in low-wage, poor conditions, or otherwise precarious positions. Past research has suggested that the process of migrants being filtered into these low-end occupations is linked to institutional factors in receiving countries such as immigration policy, the welfare state and employment regulation. This paper calculates the extent of migrant marginalization in 17 European countries and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and regression modeling to understand how institutional factors operate and interact, leading to migrant marginalization. The QCA showed that when a country with a prominent low skills sector and restrictive immigration policy is combined with either strong employment protection legislation or a developed welfare state, migrants will be more strongly marginalized on the labor market. The results of the statistical analysis largely aligned with the idea that restrictive immigrant policy by itself and in combination with other factors can increase marginalization.
Evidence suggests that, on average, younger citizens in advanced industrial democracies tend to have different policy preferences to those aged 65 and over. Population ageing and relatively lower levels of electoral participation among young people amplify the political voice of older citizens and contribute to policymakers being more responsive to their preferences. This paper presents qualitative evidence on whether young adults and older Australians recognise a need to increase young people’s influence on policymaking in the context of intergenerational inequality. The paper considers possible responses to this need, such as voting age reform. Results indicate that there is reasonable support, including from the older participants, to enhance young people’s political voice and influence over policymaking. Growing awareness of intergenerational inequality in ageing democracies may make public opinion more favourable towards voting age reform and other measures to increase the political voice of young people.
Purpose
This article contributes to the debate on how social policies and labour market regulation have been used to limit the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic by focusing on one specific economic segment of European labour markets: private consumption services, such as trade, tourism, catering and other support services.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis combines mixed methods and a variety of sources. First, we built a set of indicators from the EU-LFS microdata for 2019 and the 2018 Eurostat “Structure of earnings survey” and performed a cluster analysis (k-means) on the dimensions and indicators considered. Second, we elaborated EU-LFS data covering 2019 and 2020 (by quarter) and OECD 2020 data, and finally we traced Covid-related policy reforms for the period March 2020–December 2021 and analysed documents and information collected in different policy repositories.
Findings
The paper shows the relevance and characteristics of private consumption services in different countries, demonstrating that so-called labour market “outsiders” are highly represented in this sector and illustrates the policies adopted to respond to the pandemic in different European countries. The paper asks whether this emergency has been a window of opportunity to redefine regulation in this sector, making it more inclusive. It demonstrates, however, that the common approach in Europe has been dominated by temporary, short-term and one-off measures, which do not represent major changes to the social security schemes that were in place before the pandemic.
Originality/value
This article builds on the literature on labour market dualization, but approaches the concept from a different perspective – one not centred on the nature of employment relations (stable/unstable) but on economic sectors/branches. This article does not, therefore, discuss in general terms what happened to labour market outsiders during the pandemic, but rather focus attention on a specific group of workers who are highly exposed to risks stemming from dualization: those employed in the private consumption services. The economic sector perspective is an integrative way of framing dualization which is still under-researched.
Eine der wichtigsten Entwicklungen im österreichischen Arbeitsmarkt in den letzten Jahren war die erwerbsbezogene Zuwanderung aus der erweiterten EU. Dieses Kapitels untersucht die beschäftigungspolitischen Folgen dieser Mobilität. Es wird gezeigt, dass die hauptsächliche Dynamik für einen außergewöhnlichen Anstieg der Zuwanderung ein offener Arbeitsmarkt im Zusammenspiel mit einer Nachfrage nach Arbeitskräften, Ungleichheit und Geografie war. EU-Migrant/innen sind in unterschiedlichen beruflichen Positionen im österreichischen Arbeitsmarkt vertreten. Während Zuwander/innen aus der alten EU in hoch qualifizierten Positionen überrepräsentiert sind, haben Zuwander/innen aus der neuen EU einen vergleichsweise hohen Anteil in niedrig qualifizierten Positionen. Dies kann zum Teil mit unterschiedlichen Qualifikationen und Sprachkompetenzen erklärt werden, aber auch mit der Segmentierung des Arbeitsmarktes. Während traditionell eine Spaltung zwischen „Insidern“ und „Outsidern“ in Österreich schwächer ausgeprägt war als anderswo, deutet einiges darauf hin, dass sich im Kontext der jüngsten Zuwanderung eine Segmentierungs- und Prekarisierungstendenz verfestigt hat. Diese Entwicklung konnte durch ein relativ umfassendes Re-Regulierungsregime, welches von den österreichischen Sozialpartnern ausgehandelt wurde, etwas abgeschwächt werden, wenn auch nicht aufgehalten werden.
Un'etnografia critica incentrata sulla voce dei beneficiari del Reddito di Cittadinanza in un’area marginale, ossia sulla voce di quei soggetti che vivono in una condizione di doppia marginalità – personale e territoriale, nella società.
The chapter inquires into the structural social shift that characterised over forty years of neoliberal societal restructuration. Thus, it develops a sociological reflection on neoliberalism with reference to the positions of Boltanski-Chiapello, Brown, Harvey, Piketty and Streeck. Colonisation between societal domains with different leading logic and social fragmentation, resulting from a mix of dualisation, precarisation and conditionality of labour markets, are singled out as the decisive societal transformations of the last decades (Emmenegger, Fana, Greve, Rubery, Standing and Wolf). The chapter reconstructs how social fragmentation and alienation are faced within societal self-interpretation and how, in contrast to this, sociological critique handles the issue from a reflexive scientific perspective. This analysis methodologically introduces the sociological diagnosis that is developed in the following chapters.
In post-industrial and globalized economies, socio-economic risks have become ubiquitous for workers. Two segments of the labour force seem particularly exposed: namely, outsiders (atypical workers and unemployed individuals) and globalization losers (unskilled workers in offshorable employment sectors), with relevant consequences for party competition in Europe. The coexistence of these two segments of vulnerable workers has brought conceptual ambiguity. Using the original 2019 REScEU Mass Survey on ten European countries, we firstly clarify that outsiders and globalization losers do not constitute the same socio-economic group. Secondly, we look into the micro-foundations of outsiders' and globalization losers' redistributive preferences and political behaviours by showing that outsiderness, rather than exposure to international competition, constitutes a significant driver of income and employment insecurities, and of dependency on social protection and family financial aid.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11135-022-01414-9.
There is a perception that temporary employment is rising in Europe but there is little evidence to support this. If one takes the position that temporary employment should be rising due to large structural changes in European labor markets, then stagnating trends represents something of a puzzle. I examine the puzzle by applying a life-course approach to understand the distribution and trends in temporary employment among prime-age workers in 31 European countries. I compare and contrast changes in the temporary employment rate in a single period of time using cross-sectional data from the European Labour Force Survey (LFS), with changes in the risk of experiencing temporary employment in multiple periods of time using longitudinal data from the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC). Results from cross-sectional data suggest that between 1996 and 2007, the temporary employment rate increased in Europe by 28%, but between 2007 and 2019, there was little change. By contrast, results from panel data suggest that between 2013 and 2019, the risk of experiencing at least one temporary employment contract rose 36%. Over time, the temporary employment rate stagnated, but the temporary employment risk rose. The contribution provides insight into the nature of employment experiences associated with insecurity.
US and EU trade relations exhibit a set of chronic and secularly unsustainable imbalances, in which new Schumpeterian leading sectors and catch-up growth create growing tension in the asymmetrical and somewhat hierarchical US–EU relationship. These imbalances exhibit two distinct cycles interrupted by a clear structural break in the 1970s and an emerging cycle after the 2008–2010 crises. Each cycle has seen rising US current account or trade deficits with Europe provoke some financial or political crisis. Each crisis produced a US-led solution producing even greater imbalances in the next cycle, with concomitant stress on the asymmetric US–EU relationship. The EU and particularly the northern eurozone economies typically have relied on export surpluses for growth. But relying on export surpluses for growth reinforces EU dependence on the US and the US dollar at a time when US domestic politics are increasingly hostile to trade deficits and tension with China is rising.
The chapter focuses on German trade unions’ engagement with the European Commission initiative for fair minimum wages in Europe. The minimum wage initiative constitutes an attempt for a countermovement from above against an unregulated and thus unsustainable European labour market (Harriss, Global Labour Journal 1:9–10, 2010; Seeliger and Sommer, Culture, Practice & Europeanization 4:5–23, 2019).
The research considers how far German unions can formulate political positions at EU-level that are distinct from or opposed to employer views. In the current context of widespread worker discontent towards the EU, trade unions are often perceived as members of discredited elites rather than defenders of working-class interests. Indeed in Germany, trade unions are deeply embedded within the traditional national elites. Trade union representatives participate in company management as members of supervisory-boards. Employees enjoy comparatively high levels of representation through works councils and via collective bargaining mechanisms. German multinational corporations also benefit disproportionately from Europe’s integrated yet disembedded labour market (Hardy, Capital & Class 38:143–155, 2014). Within this context, German unions have managed to secure partial benefits for workers. For example, the powerful alliance between unions and employers in the metal and chemical sectors has in the past regularly resulted in comparatively high wage increases despite being exposed to high rates of global competition (Lehndorff, S. (2012) p. 94; see also Schulten, T. (2018)). The large industry unions IG Metall and IG BCE tend to operate as part of a distributional coalition with employers (Höpner, Leviathan 35:310–347, 2007).
This chapter considers how German unions’ deep embeddedness within national industrial elites generates relatively high levels of influence on the part of organised labour, but also high sensitivity for employer demands in a national competitive alliance.
Liberalization poses significant challenges for the continued provision of collective goods within coordinated market economies (CME). Extant scholarship suggests two dominant sets of responses. Either CMEs continue to rely on employer coordination, but only for a privileged core, leading to dualization. Or, in cases where the state enjoys high capacity, the state instead compensates for liberalization but ends up crowding out employer coordination. In both cases, the result is decreasing employer coordination. We argue that in CMEs, the state may also play the role of “orchestrator” by supporting the revitalization of employer coordination. It does so through the deployment of ideational and institutional resources that mobilize employers’ associations on a voluntary basis. Applying our framework to a core area of coordinated capitalism, vocational education and training, we show that in both Germany and Switzerland, this indirect and soft form of state intervention was instrumental for turning around their crisis-stricken vocational training systems.
This article aims to empirically explore how European labour markets are segmented and who the outsiders are. The article moves beyond the dichotomous approach to understanding labour market division, often based solely on examining employment relationships. Taking a multi-dimensional approach to defining labour market precariousness, this study incorporates aspects such as income, job prospects and subjective insecurity. Latent Class Analysis is used on data taken from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey to extend the traditional definition of outsider-ness. Four labour market segments are found: insiders and three different types of outsiders: typical outsiders, dead-end insiders and subjective outsiders. Looking at the cross-national aspect, variations are found in the segmentation patterns, especially in terms of who the outsiders are. The findings show the need to examine various aspects of labour precariousness in order to capture the complexity of post-industrialised labour markets and identify different types of outsiders across Europe that need to be protected for building a more cohesive society.
The sequence of crises in the 2010s entirely changed the socio-economic context that had inspired the Lisbon strategy in the year 2000. EU policy veered towards austerity and social policy became an ‘adjustment variable’. Since the mid-2010s, however, a slow process of rebalancing has gained ground, culminating in the adoption of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) in 2017. The Porto Summit has confirmed the centrality of the Pillar for a new Social Europe. To appreciate fully the EPSR’s potential, it is necessary to focus not only on binding measures but also on EU incentives and actions aimed at promoting (and partially funding) concrete access to social rights. Especially through the ‘guarantee’ instrument, the EU can play a bigger and more effective role in the sphere of social citizenship, without stumbling into the political obstacles associated with hard law.
Trade unions are often said to be hostile to a universal basic income (UBI). Their judgement may be affected by factors such as their work ethic, perceptions of the unemployed and preferences for labour decommodification. Yet, most studies fail to sketch out the reasons for which unions oppose or support a UBI from a normative standpoint. To understand the impact of ideology on unions’ appreciation for a UBI, I integrate results from 62 questionnaires with 27 in-depth qualitative interviews. This study illustrates that unions’ preferences for a UBI are associated with their theoretical understanding of labour, diverging substantially across welfare regimes. Whereas unions from Bismarckian and Nordic countries are generally opposed to a UBI, organizations from Liberal and Mediterranean countries tend to see UBI as a legitimate policy option. However, in some circumstances they set aside the policy for pragmatic reasons, thus disconnecting their normative orientations from perceptions of its concrete viability.
What explains the origins and pattern of retrenchment dynamics in Swedish old-age pensions and unemployment insurance during the 1990s? Although the economic crisis created pressure to scale back both programs, the author argues that retrenchment only occurred when and where the Social Democratic Party and some segments of the labor movement supported change. This finding suggests that the political importance of organized labor in retrenchment politics depends on the relationship between welfare-state programs and interest group structure. When interest group structure is characterized by solidaristic, centralized, encompassing organiza-tions, the old class-based power resource model has more explanatory bite than Pierson's new politics of the welfare-state approach. T he past two decades have been marked by far-reaching changes in the welfare states of the advanced capitalist countries. In the United States and Great Britain, conservative governments largely failed in their attempts to dismantle the welfare state, but substantial retrenchment occurred none-theless (Pierson, 1994). In the Christian Democratic welfare states of West-ern Europe, governments also legislated sweeping reforms designed to trans-form "vices" into "virtues" by reversing the dynamic of welfare without work and restoring balance in the welfare states of the Netherlands, France, and 1063
This article investigates the politics of change in coordinated market econo\mies, and explores why some countries (well known for their highly cooperative arrangements) manage to sustain coordination when adjusting to economic transformation, while others fail. The authors argue that the broad category of “coordinated market economies” subsumes different types of cooperative engagement: macrocorporatut forms of coordination are characterized by national-level institutions for fostering cooperation and feature a strong role for the state, while forms of coordination associated with enterprise cooperation more typically occur at the level of sector or regional institutions and are often privately controlled. Although these diverse forms of coordination once appeared quite similar and functioned as structural equivalents, they now have radically different capacities for self-adjustment.
The role of the state is at the heart of the divergence among European coordinated countries. A large public sector affects the political dynamics behind collective outcomes, through its impact both on the state's construction of its own policy interests and on private actors' goals. Although a large public sector has typically been written off as an inevitable drag on the economy, it can provide state actors with a crucial political tool for shoring up coordination in a postindustrial economy. The authors use the cases of Denmark and Germany to illustrate how uncontroversially coordinated market economies have evolved along two sharply divergent paths in the past two decades and to reflect on broader questions of stability and change in coordinated market economies. The two countries diverge most acutely with respect to the balance of power between state and society; indeed, the Danish state—far from being a constraint on adjustment (a central truism in neoliberal thought)—plays the role of facilitator in economic adjustment, policy change, and continued coordination.
The French and German political economies have been significantly reconfigured over the past two decades. Although the changes have often been more piecemeal than revolutionary, their cumulative effects are profound. The authors characterize the changes that have taken place as involving the institutionalization of new forms of dualism and argue that what gives contemporary developments a different character from the past is that dualism is now explicitly underwritten by state policy. They see this outcome as the culmination of a sequence of developments, beginning in the field of industrial relations, moving into labor market dynamics, and finally finding institutional expression in welfare state reforms. Contrary to theoretical accounts that suggest that institutional complementarities support stability and institutional reproduction, the authors argue that the linkages across these realms have helped to translate employer strategies that originated in the realm of industrial relations into a stable, new, and less egalitarian model with state support.
A recent "revisionist" literature characterizes the pronounced rise in U.S. wage inequality since 1980 as an "episodic" event of the first half of the 1980s driven by nonmarket factors (particularly a falling real minimum wage) and concludes that continued increases in wage inequality since the late 1980s substantially reflect the mechanical confounding effects of changes in labor force composition. Analyzing data from the Current Population Survey for 1963 to 2005, we find limited support for these claims. The slowing of the growth of overall wage inequality in the 1990s hides a divergence in the paths of upper-tail (90/50) inequality-which has increased steadily since 1980, even adjusting for changes in labor force composition-and lower-tail (50/10) inequality, which rose sharply in the first half of the 1980s and plateaued or contracted thereafter. Fluctuations in the real minimum wage are not a plausible explanation for these trends since the bulk of inequality growth occurs above the median of the wage distribution. Models emphasizing rapid secular growth in the relative demand for skills-attributable to skill-biased technical change-and a sharp deceleration in the relative supply of college workers in the 1980s do an excellent job of capturing the evolution of the college/high school wage premium over four decades. But these models also imply a puzzling deceleration in relative demand growth for college workers in the early 1990s, also visible in a recent "polarization" of skill demands in which employment has expanded in high-wage and low-wage work at the expense of middle-wage jobs. These patterns are potentially reconciled by a modified version of the skill-biased technical change hypothesis that emphasizes the role of information technology in complementing abstract (high-education) tasks and substituting for routine (middle-education) tasks. Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
European unemployment has been steadily increasing for the last 15 years and is expected to remain very high for many years to come. In this paper, we argue that this fact implies that shocks have much more persistent effects on unemployment than standard theories can possibly explain. We develop a theory which can explain such persistence, and which is based on the distinction between insiders and outsiders in wage bargaining. We argue that if wages are largely set by bargaining between insiders and firms, shocks which affect actual unemployment tend also to affect equilibrium unemployment. We then confront the theory to both the detailed facts of the European situation as well as to earlier periods of high persistent unemployment such as the Great Depression in the US.
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